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Villefranche
Full name	Football Club Villefranche Beaujolais
Nickname(s)	Les Tigres Caladois (The Caladois Tigers)
Short name	FCVB
Founded	1927; 98 years ago
Ground	Stade Armand Chouffet
Capacity	3,500
Chairman	Philippe Terrier
Manager	Romain Revelli
League	Championnat National
2023–24	Championnat National, 13th of 18
Website	https://www.fcvb.fr/
Home colours	Away colours

Football Club Villefranche Beaujolais or simply Villefranche is a French association football club founded in 1927. They are based in Villefranche-sur-Saône, Rhône-Alpes and play at the Stade Armand Chouffet in town. The team played one season in the second tier of French football during the 1980s. From 2024–25 season, they play in the Championnat National, the third tier in the French football league system after reprieve from relegation.

History

Football Club Villefranche-Beaujolais was formed in 1927, from the football section of multi-sports club Cercle Sportif de Villefranche. The Beaujolais suffix of the name had been applied by 1985, the club being previously known as Football Club Villefranche.^[2]

The club debuted in the national league structure in 1953 when champions of the Lyonnais region of Division d'Honneur they promoted to Division Nationale, the highest tier of amateur football. They maintained this level for five seasons, then relegated in 1958. Promotion to the Division Nationale in 1966 would follow when they were Lyonnaise regional champions. They relegated in 1969.^[2]

In 1970 the club gained access to the Division Nationale for a third time. By successfully remaining in the division, the club became part of the third tier of French football when the FFF reorganised the leagues at the end of the 1970–71 season, taking part in the first edition of Division 3 in 1971. They remained that level until relegated to the regional league in 1976.^[2]

FC Villefranche were founding members in 1978 when the FFF introduced a fourth division to the national league, having finished 6th in the regional Division d'Honneur the previous season. They maintained this level for the season with an 11th place finish. A third place season finish in 1979–80, promoted them to Division 3. In 1983 they were promoted to Division 2 although finishing in third place when the two higher placed teams became ineligible for promotion.^[2]

The club stayed just one season in Division 2, finishing bottom of Group A and being relegated back to Division 3. They remained at that level until finishing bottom of their group in 1988, and in 1989 suffered a second successive relegation back to the regional league.^[2]

In 1993 the FFF introduced a fifth tier, and the club secured a place in the new National 3 division as champions of the Division Honneur (now the Rhône-Alpes region, after internal restructuring of the French regional leagues). After a fourth place finish in their group in 1994 they secured promotion in 1995 by finishing second in their group. The club completed three seasons of mid-table finishes before being relegated in 2000 and 2001.^[2]

As champions of the Division d'Honneur in 2004, they promoted to CFA2. In 2008, they won their group and were promoted to the fourth tier, CFA.^[2] The remained at this level until successfully gaining promotion to Championnat National as winners of their group in the 2017–18 season.^{[citation needed]}

In 2023–24, Villefranche secure relegation to Championnat National 2 from 2024–25 after finishing 13th in Championnat National but reprieve from relegation due to Niort was administrative relegation to Championnat National 2.

Crest

Current squad

As of 8 January 2025^[3]^[4]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	FRA	Sullivan Péan
3	DF	BRA	Vinicius Gomes
4	DF	FRA	Nathan Monzango
5	MF	MAD	Clément Couturier
6	DF	FRA	Christopher Rocchia
7	MF	FRA	Adama Diakité
8	MF	FRA	Octave Joly
9	FW	TUR	Metehan Güçlü
11	FW	MLI	Mahamadou Doucouré
13	FW	MTQ	Kévin Fortuné
14	DF	FRA	Steven Baseya (on loan from Strasbourg)
17	DF	FRA	Lucas Camelo


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
18	MF	FRA	Beni Sergio
19	FW	FRA	Idrissa Ba
20	MF	FRA	Mokrane Bentoumi (on loan from Le Havre)
21	MF	FRA	Antoine Valério
23	DF	MTN	Harouna Abou Demba
29	DF	FRA	Maxime Bastian
31	DF	FRA	Ismaël Petchy
34	DF	FRA	Yacine Sofiane
39	DF	FRA	Brice Negouai
40	GK	FRA	Cédric Lunardi
—	MF	FRA	Raouf Mroivili

References

^ "#794 – FC Villefranche Beaujolais : les Tigres Caladois" (in French). Footnickname. 4 July 2022. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g "Histoire du FCVB" (in French). FCVB Official Site. Archived from the original on 17 May 2018. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
^ "FCVB National 1" (in French). FC Villefranche Official Site. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
^ "FC Villefranche-Beaujolais squad". Soccerway. Retrieved 18 January 2021.